Setting Rest Positions for Envelopes

Every deformation rig needs to have a set resting position. The resting position is important as it acts as a 0 point for all the transformations that will be made to the drawing when animating. The resting position is also where we can see what parts of the drawing are assigned to which envelope.

In the Node or Timeline view, select the deformation group or nodes containing the deformation chain you want to set.

In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others button to display the deformer controls in the Camera view. This also hides all the deformer controls that were displayed.

In the Deformation toolbar, click the Rigging tool.

The chain turns from green to red. A green chain indicates the puppet is in animation mode. A red chain indicates the puppet is in a resting position. Make sure your chain is red.

In the Camera view, set up the deformation chain.

Use the envelope’s square control points to resize and reposition each segment of the envelope chain.

Use the curve handles to modify the shape of the envelope.

Repeat until all the curves of the chain are correctly aligned to the element to which it is linked. You can also set additional parameters in the Layer Properties window—see Deformation Nodes.

With the deformation nodes or group still selected, in the Deformation toolbar, click the Reset Current Keyframe button. This will set the current resting position as the current frame one.